04. Draining the cheese

The third stage is the most important. The quality of the cheese depends on the quality of the draining process. It is therefore an important and delicate stage.

Like the previous stage, the draining process of the cheeses differs depending on the cheese:

- for lactic curds, the draining is spontaneous
- for cooked and uncooked cheeses, draining is done mechanically to eliminate the water. Here, the curds can be cut, mixed, heated or pressed.  The draining of the water increases the concentration of milk.
- pressed cheeses are cut and mixed to eliminate the most water as possible.

Whatever the type of cheese, the draining of the cheese takes many hours to complete.

The draining process is the third stage which takes place in the cheese dairy.